Post by Royhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2934472/your-pc-may-be-infected-inside-the-shady-world-of-antivirus-telemarketing.html

I actually got a call from a malware scammer. He claimedmy Windows computer was infected and he was calling me to helpfix things. I threw him for a loops when I asked him which oneof my systems was infected because I currently have three ofthem running. I strung him along for a while before I told him Iknew it was a scam.

Post by Royhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2934472/your-pc-may-be-infected-inside-the-shady-world-of-antivirus-telemarketing.html

I actually got a call from a malware scammer. He claimedmy Windows computer was infected and he was calling me to helpfix things. I threw him for a loops when I asked him which oneof my systems was infected because I currently have three ofthem running. I strung him along for a while before I told him Iknew it was a scam.

youtube is filled with videos of people trolling the scammers. I hadone a few weeks ago, I switched on the speakerphone and my wife and I bothhad a giggle.

Post by Royhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2934472/your-pc-may-be-infected-inside-the-shady-world-of-antivirus-telemarketing.html

I actually got a call from a malware scammer. He claimedmy Windows computer was infected and he was calling me to helpfix things. I threw him for a loops when I asked him which oneof my systems was infected because I currently have three ofthem running. I strung him along for a while before I told him Iknew it was a scam.

youtube is filled with videos of people trolling the scammers. I hadone a few weeks ago, I switched on the speakerphone and my wife and I bothhad a giggle.

Post by John SladeThe guy that called me was also flustered when I askedhim what version of Windows I was running.John

I've only had one of those "support" calls. Unfortunately, I didn'thave sufficient time to make it entertaining, so I simply asked why hethought I was running Windoze when I was running Linux at the time. Hejust hung up. I must admit that I lied, because I was running XP in avirtual machine on the same computah.

One of my friends received a similar call and wanted to see exactlywhat they did to his home computah. At the time, whether theyinstalled spyware, keyloggers, malware, viruses, etc was in doubt. So,he let the called install some remote control program and let him lookat the Event Viewer. Much to his surprise, he did a credible job offinding obsolete drivers, driver conflicts, unsigned versions, andload failures. That's understandable because my friend writes driversand his home machine is stuffed full of drivers installed during longforgotten projects. However, when the caller wanted $150 to fix theseproblems and another $150 to look for others, my friend declined.Afterwards, he couldn't find any changes other than the remote controlprogram and a few log files that had grown.

Post by John SladeThe guy that called me was also flustered when I askedhim what version of Windows I was running.John

I've only had one of those "support" calls. Unfortunately, I didn'thave sufficient time to make it entertaining, so I simply asked why hethought I was running Windoze when I was running Linux at the time. Hejust hung up. I must admit that I lied, because I was running XP in avirtual machine on the same computah.One of my friends received a similar call and wanted to see exactlywhat they did to his home computah. At the time, whether theyinstalled spyware, keyloggers, malware, viruses, etc was in doubt. So,he let the called install some remote control program and let him lookat the Event Viewer. Much to his surprise, he did a credible job offinding obsolete drivers, driver conflicts, unsigned versions, andload failures. That's understandable because my friend writes driversand his home machine is stuffed full of drivers installed during longforgotten projects. However, when the caller wanted $150 to fix theseproblems and another $150 to look for others, my friend declined.Afterwards, he couldn't find any changes other than the remote controlprogram and a few log files that had grown.

That's pretty funny. Maybe some of them are just guys whowant to help and didn't get hired by Geek Squad India.

Post by John SladeThe guy that called me was also flustered when I askedhim what version of Windows I was running.John

I've only had one of those "support" calls. Unfortunately, I didn'thave sufficient time to make it entertaining, so I simply asked why hethought I was running Windoze when I was running Linux at the time. Hejust hung up. I must admit that I lied, because I was running XP in avirtual machine on the same computah.

I played along with one of those callers. He got frustrated because Itold him that my keyboard had no "Windows" key. It's one of the old IBMclicky keyboards.

Post by John SladeThe guy that called me was also flustered when I askedhim what version of Windows I was running.John

I've only had one of those "support" calls. Unfortunately, I didn'thave sufficient time to make it entertaining, so I simply asked why hethought I was running Windoze when I was running Linux at the time. Hejust hung up. I must admit that I lied, because I was running XP in avirtual machine on the same computah.

I played along with one of those callers. He got frustrated because Itold him that my keyboard had no "Windows" key. It's one of the old IBMclicky keyboards.

You should have told the caller that the IBM Model M keyboard has acult following and you will not deal with anyone who fails toappreciate such a superior keyboard. That should raise the resellvalue of your keyboard:<http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/7/6882427/king-of-keys>I hate to think of all the Model M keyboards that I've tossed becauseI didn't like the clatter they made. Ebay has a bunch in the $40 to$80 range:<http://www.ebay.com/sch/ibm+model+m+keyboard>

Post by Royhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2934472/your-pc-may-be-infected-inside-the-shady-world-of-antivirus-telemarketing.html

I got one of those too and yes I had no Windoze machine up just my Linux box. I knew it was a scam but made the guy mad enough to call me a "motherfucker" and hang up.

I always love to play with the minds of telemarketers like ask them for the password and if they want to speak with me have to apply for a password on my site. Of course there is no place on my site to apply for a password. Sometimes I make up a language. Sometimes I blow a whistle into the phone. But usually I just count three seconds and disconnect. I don't want to bother with clearing an empty voice message.

Oh, I used to do that but the fun wore off quickly. When I get one of thosecalls, I tell them just a minute while I turn the computer on. I then setthe phone down and see how long it will be before they hang up on me. Oneguy was persistent and stayed on for 8 minutes!

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